The Girl who

Streaky and Squeaky

Walked on Air

The Leopard

Reading
Booklet
2024 key stage 2 English reading booklet

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 [BLANK PAGE]

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 Contents
Streaky and Squeaky pages 4 – 5

The Girl who Walked on Air pages 6 – 8

The Leopard pages 10 – 11

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 Madagascar is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa.
It is well known for its range of weird and wonderful wildlife.

Imagine treading through the rainforest in Madagascar and noticing hurried

movements in the plants below you. You creep forward to investigate. Suddenly, you
see a group of animals unlike anything that you have seen before. Ten of them are
sniffing along the ground with long, pointy snouts that look almost like bird beaks.
The creatures are quite small – maybe the size of a pet hamster. Their bodies are
round and covered with spines like a hedgehog. They are brightly coloured like a
bumblebee with yellow streaks running down their backs and legs. On their heads,
each of the animals has a crown of bright yellow spikes.
They are not hedgehogs, birds or bumblebees, even if they look like a confused
hodgepodge of these animals. You have encountered a family of lowland streaked
tenrecs. They are one of many species of tenrecs living in Madagascar.

Are all tenrecs the same?

Lowland streaked tenrecs look unlike any of the other types of tenrec except for
their cousins who live in highland rainforests. Highland streaked tenrecs are as
spectacularly weird as their lowland cousins, but they have white stripes running
down their sides instead of yellow ones.
Both highland and lowland streaked tenrecs are very social animals and are the
only kinds of tenrec that live in family groups.

What do tenrecs eat?

Tenrecs forage in the rainforest for soft-bodied invertebrates such as worms and
beetle larvae. They sometimes stamp on the ground with their forepaws, to create
vibrations, which may increase earthworm activity. They have very fragile jawbones
and can only eat soft food. If they tried to eat anything harder, it could damage or
even break their jaws.

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How do streaked tenrecs communicate?
Sometimes streaked tenrec families get separated in the rainforest and need to
communicate with each other. They make high-pitched sounds when they need to
find each other. This process is called stridulation.

What is stridulation?
Unlike other types of tenrecs, a streaked tenrec has special spines on its back that
it can rub together to produce high-pitched squeaks and chirps. Crickets and other
insects commonly use stridulation to communicate.
Humans cannot hear the noises made when streaked tenrecs stridulate because
they are made at sound frequencies that are too high for human hearing. Scientists
need a specialist microphone to pick up and record the sounds.

What issues are streaked tenrecs facing?

Streaked tenrecs are unique to the rainforest in Madagascar and cannot be found
anywhere else in the world. In recent years much of this landscape has been
destroyed. As a result of deforestation, where humans cut down the rainforest
for wood, tenrecs are in decline. Streaked tenrecs play an important role in their
habitat as they hunt smaller creatures and are prey for larger animals like birds and
snakes. Without tenrecs, the whole food-chain could be disrupted, causing serious
problems for wildlife in Madagascar.

How are people helping streaked tenrecs?

While there have been efforts to help tenrecs by keeping some in zoos, this is not
necessarily the best solution due to their short lifespan and the need to keep them
in groups or pairs.
Zoos are working to build a population of these animals by breeding them in captivity,
so that people around the world can learn about the marvellous streakiness and
squeakiness of the streaked tenrecs.

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 This is an extract from a story in which Louie shows her circus
skills to her friend, Ned. This is the first time she has ever shown
anyone her ability to walk across a tightrope.

The Girl who Walked on Air

I was ready. No one had ever watched me before. Jittery though I was,
I trusted Ned to be straight with me. He saw all the acts go in and out
of the ring, so he’d know a star turn if he saw one.
The rope was now about ten feet off the ground. Ned watched from
the ground. He thought it was all one big prank. Right up until I kicked
off my clogs, tied back my hair and asked him for a leg-up on the rope.
“You ain’t getting up on that?” he said in amazement.
“Of course I am! Now help me up.”
“It isn’t safe, Louie. You can’t just get up on the rope and … well …
do it. It’s a proper skill. It takes years of practice!”
“Yes,” I said. “I know.”
I could’ve told him about my scrapbook. About Blondin*, my hero. And
that while he, Ned Bailey, had been snoring away in his cosy bed, I’d
been practising every morning for as long as I could remember. But I
wanted him to see it for himself.
*Charles Blondin was a French tightrope walker and acrobat who was famous in the 1800s.

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 “Help me up,” I said.
So he cupped his hand for my foot and on the count of three he heaved
me upwards. I moved onto the rope till I lay flat across it. Slowly, I eased
myself into a crouching position. Now I was a lot taller than Ned. The
thought made me giggle. Or maybe it was just my nerves.
“I’ve got a bird’s-eye view of the top of your head,” I said. “Now step back
and watch.”
“Shouldn’t I stay here? Just in case you fall?”
“You’re a pea-brain, Ned. Course I won’t fall.”
My mind went quiet. I stood up slowly, counted to five and focused straight
ahead. The entire world had shrunk right down on this one length of rope.
Nothing else existed. Under my feet the rope swayed slightly. It was part of
me now. It had grown out of my heels and toes. We were the same thing,
this rope and me. It made me feel wonderfully light.

Arms out to the side, I took a step forward. Then another. Left foot, right
foot, sliding forward along the rope. When I reached the other side I
stopped. Turned right round to face the way I’d come. The only movement
was in my ankles as they worked to keep me upright. I started walking
again, this time making more of a show, flourishing my wrists, stopping to
crouch down and stretch out each leg in turn. It felt good to be watched. It
made me think harder about how I moved, what shapes and lines I made.

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 When I reached the middle, the rope began to sway. Not badly, but
enough to make me steady myself. I didn’t have a balance pole; I
made do with outstretched arms. Bending my knees a little helped
too. Slowly, surely, I kept moving, the rope always a part of me. As
it grew still again, I spun on one foot like a dancer. Below me, Ned
breathed in sharp. Eventually, at the other side, I leaned on the tree
trunk and grinned down at him.

“What d’you reckon?”

His mouth hung open. “Do it again,” he said. “Blimey, Louie!

Do it again!”

The flames were there inside me. Now I’d started, I wanted more.
More people, more cheers, more gasps of delight.

Focus, Louie.

A deep breath, a thought of Blondin and my mind cleared. I stepped

out onto the rope, spread my arms and walked as if I was strolling in
the park. Then I turned right round and did it all again. Finally Ned
said, “You better come down.”

Back on the ground, I felt suddenly shy in my too-big tunic and old
tights. Ned seemed unable to speak.

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 [BLANK PAGE]
The test continues on the next page.
Please do not write on this page.
Please turn over to read the next text.

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In this account, the writer Ruskin B
Bond looks back on the experiences he had
while
hile living in the mountains and fo
forests near Mussoorie, in northern India.

I first saw the leopard when I was crosssin ng the small stream at the bottom of
th
he hill
hill. A
Ass I beggan climbing, th
the
e gruntinng and chatttering increased, as though
the mon nkeeys were trying to warn me of some hid dden dang ger. A sh
hower of
peb bblees came rattling down the e ste
eep
p hillside, an
nd I lo
ooked up
p to seee a sine
ewy,
orang ge-g gold d leopaard poised on a rock abou ut tweenty feet abo
ove me.

He wass not loooking toward me, but had d hiss heead

d thru
ust attentivvelyy forw
ward.
Yet he must have sensed my prresencee, beecausee he slow wlyy turneed hiss heaad and
d
looked down at mee. He seeemed d a litttle puzzled att my presencce therre; and when,
to give myself courage, I clappped my haands sharply, thee leop parrd sp
prang aw wayy in
nto
the thickets, maaking abssolutelyy no sound d as he meltted into o th
he shadows. I had
disturbedd the animal in his queest for food. But a little later I heaard the quickening
cry of a deer as it fled throug
gh the foresst. The hunt was still on.

The leop pard, likke ottherr meembers off the cat family, is
nearing extinctio on in India, and I was surprised to find one
so close to Mussoorie. It was some weeks before I saw w th
he
leoppard again, altho ough I waas often aware of its pressencee.
A dry, rasping co ouggh sometimes gave it away. At times I
felt almost certtain that I was beein ng followed. Once, wh hen
I was late getting home, and d the brief twilight gavve way
to a dark, moonless night, I was startled by a fam milyy of
porcupines running abou ut in a clearing. I looked aroun nd
nerrvously, and saw two bright eyes staring at me from a
thickket. I stood still, my heart banging g away again nst my
ribs. Then the eyes danced aw way, and I reealissed
d that they
were onlyy fireflies.

On one occasiion, I fo
ounnd the remains of a deeer, whiich had only be
een partly
eaten. I wonde ered whhy thee leopard had not hidden the rest of his meall, and
decided thaat it musst havve been distturb
bed
d wh
hille eating.

Theen, cliimbing the hiill, I mett a party of huntters reesting beneathh the oaaks. The
ey
askked me iff I haad seen a leopard d. I said
d I had not. Th
heyy said the
ey knew
w there
was a leeopard in the forest.

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Leopard skkins, they told
d me, were selling in
n Delhi for very go ood money.
Of course there was a ban n on the
e export of skins, but they gave me to understaand
that therre were wayys andd means… I thaanked them m for theiir inform
matio
on and
walked on, feeeliing un
neasy and dissturbed.

The hunterss hadd seen the caarcass of the deer, and they had seen the leoparrd
paw printts, an
nd so th
hey kept cooming to the foresst. Almost every evening I hearrd
their guns baanging away, fo
or theyy were ready to fire
re at
almostt anything.

“There’s a leo
opard
d about,” theyy alw
wayys told me
e.
“You should carry a gun.”

“II don’t have one,” I saiid, and th

hey went away.

Afterr th
hat, there
e were fewer birds to be seen,
and
d even n the
e monnkeys had moved on n. The pine
marrtens, who had previously become bold, now
dassheed into hiding at my approach. The smell of one
human is like e the smell of any oth
her.

One day, I was out walking g andd camme across the en ntrancce to a cave.
The silence was so absolute th hat it seemed to be
ringing in my ears. But there was someth hing else
of which I was becoming g incre
eassinglly aw
waree: the
strong felin
ne odour of onne of the catt faamily.

I pausedd and lo ookked

d about. I was alone. There was
no movvement of dryy le eaf or lo
oose sto
one. Perhaps the
leoppard was cro ouchhing there inn the dark, watching
me, recogn nisiing me, knowin ng me as the man who
walked alone in the forestt without a weapon.

I like to
o think that he was there, thatt he kne
ew me, and that he acknowledged my
visit in
n the friendliest way: by igno
orin
ng me alto
ogetherr.

Perhapps I had made him m coonfidentt – too confid dentt, too carelesss, too trustiing of the
hummann in
n his midst. I did not venture e any further; I was not out of my mind. I did
not se
eekk physicaal contactt, or even anoth her glimpse of that beau utifu
ul sinewy body,
sp
pringing from rockk to rockk. It wass his trustt I waanted
d, and I thinkk he gave it to me.

But did the leoppard, trrusting one man, make the mistakke of bestowing hiss trrust
on others? Did d I, by casting out all fear – myy own fe
ear, and the
e leopard’ss protective
feaar – leave him de efenceless?

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2024 key stage 2 English reading booklet
Print version product code: STA/24/8811/p ISBN: 978-1-83507-006-2
Electronic PDF version product code: STA/24/8811/e ISBN: 978-1-83507-026-0

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Third-party texts
Streaky and Squeaky: Adapted from an article ‘Freaky, streaky and squeaky’ in Mongabay Kids, 2014 by
Stuart Short and David Brown.
The Girl who Walked on Air: Taken from The Girl who Walked on Air, Faber & Faber, 2014. Author: Emma Carroll.
The Leopard: Taken from Collected Short Stories, Penguin Books, 2016. Author: Ruskin Bond.

These texts and images have been incorporated into this test paper solely for the purposes of the examination
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